Today in Soap Opera History (December 26)

1966: On ANOTHER WORLD, Sam Groom debuted as Russ Matthews. Russ returned to do his internship at Memorial Hospital. Groom's first scene was with Jacqueline Courtney (Alice).

1966: On SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, Eunice, Stu, Marge, Bob and Patti were gathered at Jo's house for Christmas. Mary Stuart (Jo) played guitar as the girls sang "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" followed by Stuart singing solo.

1969: On DARK SHADOWS, Julia (Grayson Hall) played Quentin's music for Grant hoping he would regain his memory.

1979: On THE EDGE OF NIGHT, Deborah (Frances Fisher) became ill again after eating Mrs. Corey's fruitcake.

1986: On GUIDING LIGHT, Nick continued to work his Christmas magic in Springfield.

1986: SEARCH FOR TOMORROW aired its final episode after a more than 35 year run on CBS and NBC. Read Nelson Aspen's take on the end of SFT here. And watched the beloved final scene between Stu and Jo below.

1986: On AS THE WORLD TURNS, Craig (Scott Bryce) asked Iva (Lisa Brown) to marry him.

1994: Actor Robert Emhardt, the original Mac Cory on ANOTHER WORLD, died at age 80.

2006: Phillip Jeanmarie debuted in PASSIONS as Vincent at Chad and Whitney's wedding.

2007: On DAYS OF OUR LIVES, Alice (Frances Reid) remembered Tom (Macdonald Carey) at Christmas. In the final scene ever taped by Reid, she hugged a picture of her late husband and said, "Merry Christmas, Tom."

2008: On GENERAL HOSPITAL, Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) walked Robin (Kimberly McCullough) down the aisle during her wedding to Patrick (Jason Thompson).

3 comments:

How I loved ATWT in the 80s! Unfortunately, the writers i '00s ruined Craig. Had I been writing this show, I would've tried to revive Steve, Betsy and Danielle Andropoulous and had Dani and Craig and Sierra's son Bryant date, causing conflict between Steve and Craig. Oh well, unfortunately the writers thought it was a better idea to try to hook up Craig with every available female in Oakdale including Danielle! Ick!

Iva and Kirk was a couple that should've lasted, they were infinitely interesting. Craig and Sierra should've been forever, they were hot as he##!

Loved Ambrose and Lucinda. You guys as WLS have to do a Favorite Soap Sidekicks/Moral Conscience Countdown. My first three choices would be Jane and Ambrose (Lucinda) and Douglas Austin (Victor Newman/Y&R).

As much as I hated Craig during the Steve/Betsy early years, I grew to love him. The character was so complex and multi-dimensional. He kind of represented the ATWT of the early 2000s and some people loved it. For me, it was one of my least favorite things about a very revitalized show. When they brought Dani back the last time and she was sleeping with Craig I knew the end of was near. Gross!!

A bit of trivia about birthday boy, Reichen Lehmkuhl: Right after he won The Amazing Race, he got to do a CBS cross-promo by appearing on Y&R, playing a waiter at The Genoa City Athletic Club for a few episodes. In interviews, he said he'd been watching the soap since he was 12.